run to seed

Idioms  

1. Also, go to seed. Become devitalized or worn out; deteriorate, as in I went back to visit my old elementary school, and sadly, it has really run to seed, or The gold medalist quickly went to seed after he left competition. This term alludes to plants that, when allowed to set seed after flowering, either taste bitter, as in the case of lettuce, or do not send out new buds, as is true of annual flowers. Its figurative use dates from the first half of the 1800s.

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Example Sentences

Catherine, meanwhile, had run to seed and spent as much time as possible lying in bed eating sweets.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026

Indeed, his relative William Wotton said of him long after, in a Latin notice written for Elogia Gallorum, that Stanley lived engrossed in his studies, and let his private interests run to seed.

From Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657. With an Introduction, Textual Notes, A List of Editions, An Appendis of Translation, and a Portrait. by Stanley, Thomas

And you said I'd run to seed if I wasn't careful.

From The Pastor's Wife by Arnim, Elizabeth von

It's sentiment run to seed, and sentiment of the most maudlin kind, at that.

From Delilah of the Snows by Bindloss, Harold

"Yet, Miguel, how often have I said there is good in you—an apprehension of the beauty of a religious life—if only you would not allow it to run to seed."

From Glories of Spain by Wood, Charles W. (William)